[Faith & Hunger] FHN: Thanksgiving, end hunger, raise welfare, more $$ for EFPs

[Dunleamark at aol.com]

Faith and Hunger Network
Hunger Action  Network of New York  State

Media Release

November 20,  2006
Mark Dunlea 518 434-7371
Debra Jameson 518  443-0460

Faith  Groups Urge Spitzer, Legislators to End Hunger and  Poverty
Call for Hike in  Welfare Grant, Funding for Emergency Food  Programs

The Faith and  Hunger Network today called upon the  Governor-elect and state 
lawmakers to  finally raise welfare benefits  after more than 16 years of  
inaction.

The groups also urged the  State to make ending hunger and  homelessness more 
of a priority. The  group announced its support for the  Anti-Hunger Policy 
Platform for NY  State and City, as well as renewing its call  for a 
universal 
health  care system for the state.

Speakers at the  event included Rev.  Vernon Victorson, President, Capital 
Area Council of  Churches;   Misha Marvel, Capital Region Ecumenical 
Organization; 
K.   Balasubramanian, Hindu Temple; Arleen Urell of the Reform Jewish Voice 
of  
New  York State; and, Mark Dunlea, Hunger Action Network of New  York  State

“It is immoral that in the richest nation, New York  leads in  the growing 
gap 
between the poor and rich. Nothing  illustrates that gap better  than the 
decline in value of welfare  benefits to only half of the federal  poverty 
level. 
No industrial  democracy fails our children more than the United  States,” 
stated Rev.  Debra Jameson, Community Minister of the FOCUS Churches of  
Albany. The  
federal poverty level for a family in 3 in 2006 is $16,600. (for   welfare 
info, see _http://www.hungeractionnys.org/welfare.htm_  
(http://www.hungeractionnys.org/welfare.htm) )

“The  state  budget is about our choices and our lawmakers have chosen for 
too 
long  to  keep poor children and their families in abject poverty. For too  
long we have  balanced the state budget on the backs of the poorest and  most 
vulnerable, while  cutting taxes for the politically powerful and  increasing 
subsidies for  corporations,” added Dunlea.

“Even  though welfare  participants are required to do work activities as a  
condition of eligibility,  we fail to provide them with enough to pay  for 
housing or other basic  necessities such as food, clothing and  utilities. 
The 
devastating impact of  Katrina dramatized how ingrained  poverty still 
remains in 
America. As one of the  wealthiest states in  the nation, the Empire State 
should 
lead the way by  restoring welfare  benefits to the level of 16 years ago and 
then taking steps to  raise  all out of poverty,” urged Misha Marvel, 
Coordinator of the Capital  Region  Ecumenical Organization

Anti-hunger and faith groups are  calling  for the Governor-elect to include 
in his 2007-08 budget  proposals an increase in  the nonshelter portion of 
the 
welfare  grant  by  55% from $291 to $450  for a family of three. This  would 
reflect the increase in the cost of living  since the last  adjustment in 
1990. 
The groups also want the Fuel for Heating   Allowance to be increased to 
account 
for inflationary increases since the  last  adjustments in 1986 -1987. 
Finally, 
a commission should be  established to  investigate the adequacy of all 
public 
assistance  allowances and to recommend  mechanisms to provide for annual 
cost  
adjustments. At a minimum, welfare  benefits should at least raise  families 
to the poverty  line.

“Demand for emergency food  continues to increase and over 3  million people 
use soup kitchens and  food pantries throughout the year,” noted  Rev. Vernon 
Victorson on  First Lutheran and Capital Area Council of Churches.  “State 
and  
federal funding for emergency food programs have actually declined in   
recent 
years while the demand has continued to increase. We are asking for  $32  
million 
this year in state funding to restore the cuts and adjust  for inflation  and 
increased demand.”

Last year the state  provided $22.8 million  in the Hunger Prevention and 
Nutrition  Assistance Program, a 7% cuts in the  funds for food banks and 
emergency  
food programs since 2002. The figure includes  a restoration back to  the 
funding level of 2003, a 5% annual inflation rate and  a 1.8%  annual 
increase to 
reflect the increase in poverty  levels.

"The  Reform Jewish Movement has always acted upon  fundamental Jewish ideals 
 
by advocating for the poor, disenfranchised, the  elderly, the sick,  the 
disabled and the "stranger among us." The Movement calls  for full  
employment 
programs, social welfare entitlements for public housing,   day care, family 
planning, health and legal services and income  maintenance  assistance 
programs. 
Hunger is inherently connected to the  problem of poverty.  Poverty prevents 
people 
for being able to provide  an adequate and nutritious  diet for themselves 
and 
their families,”  stated Arleen Urell of the Reform  Jewish Voice of New York 
State.  

The group also wants the new  Governor to improve state oversight  of the 
local Department of Social Services  in providing food stamps  and other 
benefits 
to eligible households. It hopes the  new  administration will go back to the 
requirement during the Cuomo   administration of providing expedited food 
stamps 
in emergencies by the  day  after application; it was increased to five days 
during the  Pataki  administration.

Hunger Action is also urging the new  Governor to re-establish the  NYS Food 
Policy Council to improve  coordination of state actions around hunger,  
nutrition and  agriculture.

The basic welfare grant has not been  raised since 1990  – and it was grossly 
inadequate in 1990.  Many of those  impacted  are children.  Individuals 
receiving welfare assistance are   working at mostly low-wage or unpaid job 
assignments.  They are playing  by  the rules and raising their child/ren 
mostly as 
single  mothers.  Those not  working are elderly or disabled and cases where  
only 
the child is receiving  assistance.  They are all struggling  trying to live 
on 
less than   $10.00 a day (for a family of 3) –  that’s only $3 a day per 
person to pay for  utilities, travel, laundry,  clothing, school supplies, 
toilet 
paper,  etc!

There is a long  standing case in NY where the courts,  including the State’s 
highest  court, have repeatedly ruled that the welfare  shelter allowance is  
illegally low. The state did make a slight adjustment two  years in the  
shelter 
allowance schedule in response to the court rulings but the   plaintiffs felt 
the increase was grossly inadequate and are continuing  the  litigation.

The recent census data documents that poverty  remains a  significant problem 
in our state. The official poverty rate  statewide increased  to 14.7%. New 
York City's poverty rate was 19.1%  in 2005.  But upstate  cities fare even 
worse: 
Syracuse rate was  31.3%, Rochester 30.0%, Buffalo 26.9%  and Albany 26.5%. 

Over half  the residents of Syracuse, Rochester  and Buffalo had incomes 
below  
200% of the poverty threshold. And more than 10%  of the residents of  these 
cities and Albany are classified as extremely poor –  with  incomes less than 
half the poverty threshold.
The changes to the  federal  welfare program in 1996 actually provided the 
state with a  funding source to  help raise benefits. Yet billions of federal 
welfare  dollars have been diverted  to resolve the annual state budget games 
 
rather than being used to raise welfare  participants out of poverty.